Renewable energy target legislation and reporting

100% Renewable Energy Target

In 2016, the ACT Government legislated a new target of sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2020—from within the ACT or across the National Electricity Market. If you want to be part of the journey, and help the Territory get there in your home, school, business or community group, visit Actsmart, the Government’s sustainability hub.

The ACT is connected to the national energy grid which runs from Queensland, through the eastern states to Tasmania and South Australia. The location of the renewable energy supply needed to reach the ACT’s target isn’t critical to our emission reduction effect. We source our renewable energy from generators located across eastern and southern Australia. This means the Territory won’t have any concerns about future supply reliability. We’ll be able to continue sourcing electricity as part of the National Electricity Market.

The ACT Government’s method for accounting greenhouse gas and renewable energy counts renewables from a wide range of sources, which include:

The Government applies a principle of ‘financial responsibility’ to determine what sources to count and only counts renewables where the community has paid a price premium to bring them renewables online. This is important to ensure genuine, additional greenhouse gas abatement. The major initiatives the ACT has taken, and plans to take, to achieve the Government’s target include:

Delivering additional investment at the lowest possible cost

Under the ACT Electricity Feed-in (Large-scale Renewable Energy) Act 2011, renewable energy generators are granted a feed-in tariff through a competitive process. This approach is the first of its kind in Australia. It ensures that the Territory can access proven technology at the lowest possible cost. The approach was successfully demonstrated through the Solar Auction.

Generation will also be registered as GreenPowerTM to ensure additional renewable energy generation above and beyond national renewable energy targets. Total costs per household of achieving 100% renewables are expected to peak in 2020 at around $5.50 per household per week.

Renewable Energy Local Investment Framework

Participants in large-scale renewable energy auction processes will need to set out how their proposal supports ACT renewable energy investment priorities. These are set out in ACT Renewable Energy Local Investment Framework which is built around a vision of Canberra as an internationally recognised centre for renewable energy innovation and investment.